Sheila's Books Read

Sheila's bookshelf: read

The Best Intentions
Scotland's Melody
The Secret Society of Salzburg
Secret of the Sonnets
20-40-60-Minute Dinners: Meals to Match the Time You Have
Through the Wilderness: My Journey of Redemption and Healing in the American Wild
Secret Santa Claus Club: A Tool to Help Parents Unwrap the Secret of Santa
Mr. Pudgins
Revenge Never Rests
The Best Mistake
Meriden Park
More Inspirational Stories for Young Women
The Great Tree: A Christmas Fable
To Capture His Heart
The Call of the Sea
Esperance
Livvy and the Enchanted Woodland
Come, Gentle Night
The Bad Boy Theory
Guide To Smart Wedding Planning: What You want to know and everything you haven't thought of yet.


Sheila's favorite books »

2024 Goodreads Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge

2024 Reading Challenge
Sheila has read 4 books toward her goal of 100 books.
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Tuesday, July 4, 2017

The Bird and The Sword Chronicles: Reviews of The Bird and the Sword and The Queen and the Cure By Amy Harmon



THE BIRD AND THE SWORD

Publication date: May 11, 2016
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Recommended for ages: +16
Picture
Nominee & Finalist "Best Fantasy"


​Swallow, Daughter, pull them in, those words that sit upon your lips. Lock them deep inside your soul, hide them ‘til they’ve time to grow. Close your mouth upon the power, curse not, cure not, ‘til the hour. You won’t speak and you won’t tell, you won’t call on heav’n or hell. You will learn and you will thrive. Silence, Daughter. Stay alive.


The day my mother was killed, she told my father I wouldn’t speak again, and she told him if I died, he would die too. Then she predicted the king would trade his soul and lose his son to the sky.

My father has a claim to the throne, and he is waiting in the shadows for all of my mother’s words to come to pass. He wants desperately to be king, and I just want to be free.

But freedom will require escape, and I’m a prisoner of my mother’s curse and my father’s greed. I can’t speak or make a sound, and I can’t wield a sword or beguile a king. In a land purged of enchantment, love might be the only magic left, and who could ever love . . . a bird?

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{My Review}
I loved being pulled into a new fantastical world of magic, romance and adventure. The Bird and the Sword creates it's own magic from the beginning as the power of words are shown to be uplifting, but also deadly. The characters at first are hard to get to know until suddenly you are wrapped up in them and their problems. It was wonderful to watch as main character Lark opened up to find her hidden gifts. The creativity of the "Gifted" people was very interesting and well written. The overall story flowed well and kept you enthralled as young King Tiras fights for his kingdom and his life against the merciless and deadly bird men, The Volgar. 

The world building is woven so well you are enveloped quickly into the kingdom of Jeru. Lark's journey is the heart of this story and truly the most fulfilling aspect of this novel. 
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THE QUEEN AND THE CURE

Publication date: May 9, 2017
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Recommended for ages: +16


There will be a battle, and you will need to protect your heart.

Kjell of Jeru had always known who he was. He'd never envied his brother or wanted to be king. He was the bastard son of the late King Zoltev and a servant girl, and the ignominy of his birth had never bothered him.

But there is more to a man than his parentage. More to a man than his blade, his size, or his skills, and all that Kjell once knew has shifted and changed. He is no longer simply Kjell of Jeru, a warrior defending the crown. Now he is a healer, one of the Gifted, and a man completely at odds with his power.

Called upon to rid the country of the last vestiges of the Volgar, Kjell stumbles upon a woman who has troubling glimpses of the future and no memory of the past. Armed with his unwanted gift and haunted by regret, Kjell becomes a reluctant savior, beset by old enemies and new expectations. With the woman by his side, Kjell embarks upon a journey where the greatest test may be finding the man she believes him to be.


This book is a STANDALONE novel featuring characters that were introduced in The Bird and The Sword and it is recommended that ​The Bird and The Sword ​be read first. ​
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{My Review}
I really liked the first book in the series, but I truly loved this second book even more. The characters were written so much deeper and were harder to figure out, but the payoff in the end was great. Kjell is closed off and has good reason because of his harsh upbringing. I didn't like him in the first book and he crept his way into my heart during the second book. As you read the novel you can't help but fall for this reluctant hero just as the heroine Sasha does. Their love story is heart-wrenching as both of their hidden backgrounds come into play. Just as Lark and King Tiras in The Bird and the Sword had to learn to accept their "Gifts", so do Sasha and Kjell in The Queen and the Cure. The Gifted are the spinners, tellers, seers, changers and healers. They both also have to learn to accept who they truly are and the responsibilities that come with their titles. This novel felt more intimate as you get to know the characters on a personal level. There are a few scenes of a sexual nature that are more appropriate for the 18+ crowd but nothing that would be seen as pornographic. 

I love the way that Amy Harmon writes. Her words are so beautiful and lyrical. Here is how the novel opens...

“Light glanced off of the empty throne and streaked across the wide room, peeking around corners and climbing the walls. Silence was the only occupant. Something fluttered overhead, breaking the stillness. Vines with leaves so emerald they appeared black in the shadows, wrapped their way around the rocks and past the windows, filtering the light and casting the interior in a wash of green. The castle was holding her breath. She’s been holding her breath for so long”. 

That just makes me sigh!

So if you are looking for a tale filled with adventure, romance, deep characterization, fantasy and an over-all good story, then The Queen and the Cure is one you should pick up. I highly recommend you read the first book in the series, though this could be a stand alone, but it will mean so much more in following Kjell's journey to know where he started from.
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"There were no secrets, no sorrows, nothing hidden, nothing lost. They saw not what would be or what had been, but only what was. She saw him. He saw her. And they saw nothing else."

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